Respect: The Doroboniichan Problem
by 9angels1idiot
Summary: Asking the question about Chitose Miyuki created an argument between Amasawa Amai and Tezuka Kunimitsu. Things weren’t going easy for them. That sucks, huh. Another one shot sequel to RESPECT.


Summary: Asking the question about Chitose Miyuki created an argument between Amasawa Amai and Tezuka Kunimitsu. Things weren't going easy for them. That sucks, huh. A one shot sequel to RESPECT.

* * *

**Respect: The Dorobo-niichan Problem**

"Who is this dorobo-niichan they're talking about, Tezuka?" I asked out of the blue. While studying in front of the tennis courts, Eiji suddenly said that name. It kind of interrupted my trail of thoughts so badly that I had to ask Tezuka.

"Ah," his reply started, "That would be me."

"Eh! Dorobo... you're a thief? What did you do?" I began yelling. From the corner of my eye, I spotted Eiji staring at me and Fuji sending his signature smiles to me. Tezuka suddenly grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me away from the tennis courts. He brought me to the nearest grassy area, where he leaned against a tree. I stood in front of him. The question in my head had now changed: Why did he not want to say the answer in front of the other regulars? If they knew about it, what's to hide?

Crossing his arms, he began his explanation, "I went to Kyuushuu to visit a hospital for my injury."

I nodded.

"On the way, I passed by a tennis court. Seeing a tennis racket at the side, I used it for a few hits. A girl came in and called me a Dorobo for stealing the racket."

"So, this little girl is the one calling you a Dorobo-niichan?" I clarified.

"Yes"

He continued on with the story. He explained the IPS issue and what the girl did that helped him out a lot in overcoming his fear of pain. He later found out that she was the little sister of Chitose Senri. She, too, had won in her school tournament a few days after.

"So, she's the little sister of that guy you fought in the semi-finals. And somehow, her win in her school tournament might be caused by your determination to overcome fear."

He nodded. I touched his shoulder lightly and smiled. "That's a neat story." And then noticing the silence around us, I opted to ask this question. "By the way, why did you narrate this story to me privately? Is there anything wrong with saying this story in front of the tennis team?"

He was silent and then replied, "... I wonder."

"Don't tell me that!" I slapped the top of his head with my palm. "C'mon, at least give me a straight answer here. You grabbed my wrist so furiously that I've been mentally screaming in pain. You should know how much power you should put on a weak girl like me."

He looked confused.

"Don't say that you don't know why you had to tell me privately, too. It's annoying!" I ruffled my hair, "Gosh, Tezuka, tell me something! Tell me anything! I hardly know you. I only know things from Fuji and Eiji, but never from you. I don't even know why I'm together with you right now. True I fell in love with you, but you're worse than I expected. You're too hard to handle!" I yelled.

I was furious of the fact that Tezuka was being a secretive idiot. He was a bastard for not telling me things. He always kept things to himself. It's too hard to understand, it's just thanks to Inui and the other regulars that I don't misunderstand him. Why won't he just speak to me casually? Why can't he be public about us? I mean, it's true he told a bunch of fangirls about our relationship, but for some reason I knew he was just pushing himself to his limit. I just hate knowing that he doesn't like doing certain things for me. He's such a pain!

"Amasawa, I'm sorry." He broke the silence with his cool, calm voice. Was he planning to apologize for being an ass? Is he planning to tell me everything now? "I have to dismiss the others in the tennis club."

"IDIOT!" I yelled. If I knew that he was a selfish bastard, then I wouldn't even bother getting to know him. I left him alone under the heat of the sun.

* * *

The days ran by fast. It's been a four days since I last spoke to Tezuka Kunimitsu. I haven't bothered to visit him during tennis practice and like the stoic human that he is; he didn't bother meeting me, too. What sort of gentleman is he? I've mistook him for someone else. Wake up, Amai, he isn't some knight in shining armor. He's just some smart student council president who could be a full time captain of a tennis club who won the nationals and is the hottest guy in my eyes. Yes, he's just all that, Amai. But what started this fight anyway? Ah, it's all because of that Chitose Miyuki story. If I didn't bother asking for some explanation then... I WOULDN'T BE IN SUCH A POSITION!!

"Amasawa? Why are you sitting there in the corner all curled up?" Fuji asked as he emerged from the entrance of the room.

"Why are you here? No tennis practice?" I asked still curled up like a ball with my chin on my knees.

"No, the second years and the first years are practicing. The third years can come voluntarily. But, Tezuka's really pushing them to the limit." He replied.

"I know" was all I could say. When his name came out of someone's mouth, I just didn't know what to say anymore.

"I've noticed that both of you haven't been talking to each other lately. Is there anything wrong?" He asked.

I stood up from my position, immediately denying. "What do you mean? Probably you're imagining things, Fuji. There's nothing wrong with us." I then took off in the speed of light... or maybe I was just jogging.

But as I exited the school, I suddenly didn't want to run anymore. I wanted to go back to Tezuka and tell him to just talk to me. I want him to yell at me, give me advice, scream my name out, teach me some subject, lend me his English dictionary, anything that would certify that we're together. Most of all, I still want to walk home with him under the rainy sky or simply, hug him. Why does he have to be so emotionless? I'm such an idiot for falling in love with a rock!

I felt drops of water him my arm. I looked up, water fell on my cheeks.

"That sucks; I didn't bring an umbrella today." I mumbled, "The weather forecast said that it was going to be a sunny day, what a liar!" I began to run.

The rain came in the most stupid time. Today was the day Tezuka and I weren't under it. Today, I hardly spoke to the guy, no; I didn't even speak to him at all. I probably even tried hiding from him. Why can't I just slap his face and tell him to talk to me?

Oh wait… that's a brilliant idea.

I SHOULD DO THAT!

* * *

And so, as I was nearing the tennis courts, the next morning, I toughened my mind and my body. I conditioned my mental self and my spirituality, thinking that what I was doing was a sin to my philosophy. I wonder what my philosophy is. I was close to the tennis zone when I noticed that the place was deserted. There was no one in sight. I had forgotten that there wasn't going to be any tennis practice today. That's how you know that Amasawa Amai is stupid.

I walked to my classroom, the earliest as usual, and slumped on my table. It was way silent than usual. It must be because the sound of the balls hitting the rackets has disappeared. Isn't this a sign? School is ending soon. As the junior high national tennis matches end, the sound of graduation will come in running fast. And here I am, sulking about my argument with Tezuka. I'm clearly wasting my time. I heard he wants to go to Germany. Of all places, Tezuka, why Germany?

"What am I doing here?" I yelled, as I instantly stood up. My phone then fell off from my green skirt. I picked it up. No calls, no messages. My life was boring. Besides, what made me so mad about his private talk anyway? I mean, there's nothing wrong if he wants to tell me things secretly. Or probably I was just annoyed that he held on to my wrist so tightly. But maybe, it was because of the idea that Chitose Miyuki actually gave _MY_ Tezuka Kunimitsu a nickname. I can't even call him by his first name just yet and here she goes calling him by some stupid nickname. Just because she's a little girl you shouldn't forgive her. Tezuka hardly even calls me by my name. It's always just "Amasawa-san, Amasawa-san." I don't even know if we're really close to each other. I could hardly hold his hand publicly.

I sighed. I sat on the chair and stared at the blackboard. It pretty much sucked knowing that Tezuka would hide things from me. I hate it.

"Amasawa" A voice popped into my head out of the blue. Of all voices, it's always Tezuka's voice that's calling me. I should push him out of my head for now. "Amasawa" Why now? Maybe I miss him too much. When he calls my name like that, I actually like it. "Amasawa Amai" His voice was closer now. It was so soothing. "Amai"

That was it. That was the alarm that woke me up. He called me Amai. I looked up and found him sitting on the table beside mine. He sat cross legged and refreshing as always. He was _my_ Tezuka Kunimitsu. And I'd proudly say that to any girl anywhere.

He stood up from his seat, "It's harder to wake you up when you daydream." He commented.

"Uh, yeah, I guess" was my half stuttered reply. My heart was beating faster than usual. I hated that feeling. It reminded me of how it felt to be the girl who simply respected Tezuka.

"I apologize"

For some reason, even if I wanted to him to apologize, I didn't want to hear him apologize. How ironic. I've waited for this day to come, but now, I'm blank. I can't speak. I'm losing in front of an outrageously hot guy and not only that, we're going out. I mean, I think we are still going out.

"Everything you said was true. I've been hiding things from you, being silent. Its how I am, I know you know that. You've accepted that, haven't you?"

I just nodded.

"Amasawa, I want to be open with you once more. I want things to go the same way before we got together. That isn't something hard to ask, right?"

"Like how you told me you want to take up law or something of that matter? And that I told you I was interested in having a medical field. Or when we talked about books and you said you liked thrillers? Something like that?" I clarified.

"We could start from there."

"So, it's like we're starting over. We're going back to stage one: the get to know you stage." I said.

"I guess…"

"Can we skip school today?" I suggested

"Hm?"

"You could pretend you're sick and I'll give my own reasons. Besides, shouldn't we try skipping school for once in our entire lifetime? Our junior high school is ending soon, Tezuka." I explained.

And for once, he nodded. He gave me his yes. Today will be the day Tezuka broke all the rules and became a bad boy for at least one day. Skipping school equals bad boy, right?

* * *

"Fine, I was jealous."

We were eating an ice cream sundae in one of the dessert places nearby. I had just explained to him one of the possible reasons of my sudden outburst. Other than the fact that I got extremely annoyed when he held on to my wrist with full force, there were probably several other reasons for my anger.

"Jealous of what?" he asked.

"Think, Tezuka, think. Who in the world were we talking about?" I hinted.

He got it immediately. No wonder he's the top of the school, "Miyuki"

"Yes! Her!" I got annoyed the moment he said her name. I saw his eyes widen. He must have been shocked when I yelled that out. For someone with a poker face, he can't hide the fact that he's surprised. "Well, you see, it annoys me that you went all the way to Kyuushuu and you just met some little girl and then voila, you're fine. Weren't you supposed to go to the doctor?" I said without breathing. I didn't want to say it but I had to. He wanted me to open up.

"Well, you should thank her too. She did help me overcome my fear." He defended her. That was clearly irritating my senses.

"Fine fine, thank you Chitose Miyuki." I said feeling defeated.

"But why would you feel jealous? There is no reason for you to feel jealousy over someone four to five years younger than you. You've won, Amasawa Amai. That's clear" He said.

I blushed. _I've won, huh._

"I have another question then," He began, "what do you mean I'm hard to handle?"

"So, you were listening to every single word that I was saying." I let out a sigh. I brought my hand closer to his face and touched his cheek, "It meant that you're an idiot or something like that, I guess." I chuckled.

"Explain that phrase to me." He took my hand from his cheek and held on to it on top of the table.

"You want it in a simpler language, huh." I looked at the street and then back at him, "You're very much hard to handle because of that poker face of yours. You're too hard to understand. I have to dig in too much and not only that, you rarely tell me anything. I don't know how you feel at the end of the day. I'm playing around with a crossword puzzle when I talk to you, Tezuka. I've been guessing that you've noticed that problem. I've been hoping that one day you'd be something more than just a rock. Every day, I think that I should give you an application for a surgery. You're so nice to open up. Every day, I want to know you more. Tezuka, you are indeed, hard to handle. You're not fragile, and you might just be an empty box."

"You're quite metaphorical." He commented.

"Isn't that the reason why I write books?" I grinned.

"I guess."

"Wait, don't change the subject!" I hit the top of his head again, like what I did when I got mad at him.

"Ah, sorry"

"Say something! Like a comment."

He looked out the window, "I like you."

"Eh? That doesn't make sense." I was confused.

"That's what I think about at the end of the day, in the middle of my tennis practice, during a class discussion, when I'm in front of you and even now." He said while adjusting his glasses.

"Hmm, I guess it's easier to understand you now, huh." I said.

"Yes"

"I should be happy I've fallen in love with a rock..." I mumbled, after licking the ice cream off the spoon.

* * *

A/n: yes it's that simple! And if you are wondering if this is connected to the respect story, as in part of the story line? No, remember that they weren't even together during that certain point in time. So, just to remind you once more… to make things easier for me, I've made both of them together during middle school. Cool? Oh and I've added that part of him going to Germany even though in the original Respect story, it was written that he was going to school in Seigaku. I just wanted to add some sad part to the story and so I followed the real idea that he was going to Germany and not to Seigaku High School. I've wanted to write a one shot on that too though… I mean Tezuka in Germany and Amai in Japan (Osaka, probably). Well, readers: Let's all pray that will happen! Wish me luck!

Hope you enjoyed the story! Don't forget to review or at least... favorite.. hehe. *grin grin*


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